[ExI] how long will this go on?

[William Flynn Wallace]

Here's a thing:  how many PGA golfers were racist?  Probably nearly all of
them.  Who would have done what Columbus did?  Nearly all of them.  After
all, he was not taken down by his crew, who presumably would have
keelhauled him if he had done anything outrageous.  We are punishing the
images of people who were conforming to the principles of the time.  How
evil is that?

bill w

On Sat, Jul 11, 2020 at 9:12 AM SR Ballard via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> I mean, I understand the impetus for these reactions, but my thinking is
> more: who really considers these to be racist idols?
>
> Robert E Lee is one thing. Everyone ties him instantly with the Civil War
> and Slavery. Columbus is emblematic of the enslavement and abuse of native
> people.
>
> But I had never heard of this “Horton Smith” guy until I read this email,
> and basically no one except a golf fanboy will have. So what good does it
> do to remove his name from something?
>
> A better example of obscure people who I think might be “villifiable”
> would be “the father of modern Gynecology”, Mr. Sims.
>
> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Marion_Sims
>
> SR Ballard
>
> On Jul 11, 2020, at 8:47 AM, William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> A man named Horton Smith has had his name taken off a golf trophy because
> he agreed with the 'no Blacks' provision in professional golf - he was the
> president of the PGA.  1950s.
>
> Consider this:  suppose he had not agreed?  Suppose that he wanted Blacks
> on the tour?  Do you think he would have kept his position as president?
> Hah!  People were not ready for that by a long shot.
>
> So he is being vilified for thinking the way everyone else did.  His only
> 'sin' is that he was president, I suppose.  Should we now disparage all the
> golfers, like Arnold Palmer, who were members at the time?
>
> How far will this go?  How long?  Billions of people were racist back
> then.
>
> Billions of people are racist now.  How far will taking names off of
> trophies get us?
>
> bill w
>
>
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